Words of Encouragement

  This page is dedicated to bringing encouragement and insight to God's people and reaching the lost for Christ.

September 1, 2022

Generational Plan : Article 1 The Failure of one Generation

Judges 2 10 “And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers, and there arose another generation after them who knew not the Lord nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” (NKJV)

The Amplified Version puts it this way, “Also, all [the people of] that generation were gathered to their fathers [in death]; and another generation arose after them who did not know [recognize, understand] the Lord, nor even the work which he had done for Israel.”

The first great message that jumps out at me is the previous generation did not ensure that their children and their children’s children knew the Lord nor the works he had done. This was an epic failure on the part of the previous generation.

Oral history was extremely important to the peoples of this time period. They passed down from one generation to the next the great stories that told who they were. It was the oral history that was passed down to keep the families together. It was supposed to be the oral history that would also keep the events and actions of almighty God alive in the hearts and minds of the people.

It was the oral history that allowed the successive generations to know what land belong to what families.

Consider, how was it that the children of Israel, in bondage in Egypt for 400 years, even knew there was a God to call upon for deliverance? The stories and the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had been kept alive through their oral history.

There were no textbooks to study. There was no Torah, no Bible; There were no seminaries, no synagogues, no academies that kept the stories alive. 

When God brought Israel out of Egypt, he began the process of educating them on what manner of people they were to be. He constantly said to them that they were to tell their children what he had done. It is not a far stretch to say that Moses was probably the only Israelite who could read and write. Everyone else was raised in slavery. Now I suppose it is possible that some of the Hebrew overseers might have been taught to read in order to do their jobs. But on the whole, coming out of slavery literacy was not prominent among the children of Israel.

A Bible scholar that I recently heard expressed the belief that the 10 Commandments that God gave Moses was not a list of dos and don’ts but rather they were instructions on how a free people ought to live. God was teaching the children of Israel how to see themselves, one another, and himself in a very different light from when they were in bondage. The Commandments of God were designed to give the people a new way of treating one another as well as those who would choose to live among them.

Branden Robbins says, “The Ten Commandments are not a list of moral laws. They are instruction for how to be free people.” (Misreading scripture) The Ten Commandments were designed to replace the slave mentality, the desires for the old way of doing things, the old habits of submitting to Egyptian power, customs, and traditions. Israel was being educated by God to know how to be a free people and how to honor the God who set them free. They had spent a year in Sinai to learn this new way of living.

Even before they left Egypt God had begun telling the people to tell their children about what is taking place. They were to tell their children about the Passover. Tell their children about the Red Sea. Tell their children about the water flowing from the rock. Tell their children about the 40 years wondering through the wilderness.

By the time Israel was ready to finally enter into the promised land, every adult who came out of Egypt except Joshua and Caleb had died. It was their children whom Joshua and Caleb led into the promised land. It was the children who had been instructed in the ways and works of the Lord who began to possess the land.

Then comes a most troubling verse in Judges chapter 2:7 “And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel.” 

How is it that the succeeding generations did not know of the mighty acts of God? The bible does not explain in detail it merely says, there arose a “another generation … who knew not the Lord nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10)

Could it be that the people were so involved in the process of warring against the current inhabitants that they were not taking the time to instruct their children in the mighty deeds of the Lord? Were they so involved in establishing their homes and businesses to adequately pass on to their children the great acts of God? Cares of the new life? Pursuit of the better life? The bible does not go into detail about why. We have the statement that a new generation of children of God did not know him and his works.

We in our day and time have a similar situation. Prayer, the 10 Commandments, respect for religion has been removed from public places. Fewer children in our nation are growing up with a knowledge of the most-high God. Religion, particularly Christianity is ridiculed, and even vilified. In the name of separation of church and state our nation has swung to the extreme. There is an attempt to separate church from the individual as well as from government.

But we have the greatest gift that mankind can ever receive. The creator of the universe, and all that is in it, comes to us and offers to be the mediator between God and man. He came to offer himself as the sin bearer that we as individuals do not have to be bound by our sins. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we who were unrighteous might become righteous through him.

The Bible teaches us that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

The Bible teaches us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

The Bible teaches us that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)

The Bible teaches us that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

The Bible teaches us that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

And the Bible teaches us “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) The plan that God established is his gift to us. We cannot earn it. We do not deserve it. It is his gift to us. To as many as will receive his gift he gives it freely. Because of his love for us.

Each of us who have received God’s love, his gift of forgiveness and new life in Christ Jesus, have a responsibility to share this message of God’s grace to all who will listen. Teach it to your children. Share it with those you encounter from day to day. Allow the Holy Spirit of God to use you to reach someone else with the message of God’s grace and his wonderful gift.

If you have read this today and for the first time you realize that God is offering you this gift, I pray that you will hear him speaking to your heart and will accept his free gift.

The Bible teaches, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)

Just so you know, you will be saved from the wrath of God and eternal punishment which is the penalty of sin. You will be saved from the bondage of sin that has held you in its grip for so long.

Father, I thank you for the timelessness of your Word and your Promises. I pray you will use these words to encourage your children as they grow in their relationship with you. I pray that you will work in the heart of every person who does not know you as Lord to bring them to yourself, through Jesus Christ our Lord.